We Are Virginia Tech. We Are Prevailing.
Today marks the anniversary of the darkest day in the storied history of the Hokie Nation. It has been four years since a deranged student went on shooting spree at Virginia Tech’s Blacksburg campus, methodically killing 32 individuals—both students and faculty—and injuring more than a dozen others.
Since that time, Virginia Tech has become a national symbol of school violence. Various groups have tried to appropriate the example of Virginia Tech to support their own causes, ranging from gun control to increased funding for mental health services. Yet, to view Virginia Tech as a victim, frozen in time, immobilized and broken by the painful memories of that dark day, is to underestimate the spirit of a great university.
The Class of 2011 will receive their degrees less than one month from today. They were high school seniors when the shooting occurred, yet, in becoming Hokies, the events of April 16, 2007 became part of their experience as well. As the first class admitted after the event, the Class of 2011 was present for the first year after when everything was a milestone: the first day of classes since the event, the first home football game since the event, the first exam period since the event, the first anniversary of the event and the first graduation since the event.
After that first anniversary, the pall that had enshrouded Virginia Tech seemed to lift. We had prevailed for the most difficult year.
Our fellow Hokies spent the final moments of their lives in the classroom, teaching and learning. That teaching and learning continues as Hokies work diligently, producing research on everything from breast cancer treatments to safer football helmets. Virginia Tech’s motto, Ut Prosim—That I May Serve—reminds us that we ought to live our lives in service to our fellow man and we strive to live up to that charge every day.
While sitting on the drillfield one recent afternoon, I watched as groups of students tossed footballs, played Ultimate Frisbee, chatted with friends and sunbathed. This is the Virginia Tech I know. Ours is a great university whose heart was broken by one of our own, but which has, over the course of four years and by grace, the strength of our collective spirit and school pride, persevered. We continue to do the work that we were tasked with when we were founded more than a century ago, making our community, our Commonwealth, our nation and the entire world around us a better place.
On this day, as we reflect upon the memories of those we have lost, we also celebrate the Hokie Nation’s strength of spirit that allowed us to carry on through a time of unimaginable tragedy and rededicate ourselves to living lives of Ut Prosim.
